West Des Moines, Ia. – Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign that began in Iowa and was defined by Iowa ended this morning in Iowa.

The Minnesota congresswoman announced in a press conference from the Marriott Hotel here that she would acknowledge the message sent by caucus voters and end her campaign.

“Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a clear voice, so I have decided to stand aside,” she said.

Bachmann, 55, staked her entire campaign on success in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, but fell far short in the voting. She won just five percent of the vote – good for last place among the six actively campaigning candidates.

She fared poorly even in her home county of Black Hawk — winning just 7.2 percent of the votes cast there. She won no counties, was the second-highest vote getter in tiny Emmet County and placed third in Howard and Shelby Counties.

Her remarks this morning came from the same ballroom where last night she pledged to continue her campaign in South Carolina. She had an event planned this evening in Fort Mill, S.C., followed by two more Thursday in Greenville and Spartanburg.

That South Carolina schedule is now canceled, campaign officials confirmed. She also will not attend the Republican candidate debates on Saturday and Sunday in New Hampshire.

Bachmann’s decision to drop out followed conversations late last night among her, family members and top campaign aides, spokeswoman Alice Stewart said. After weighing her options, Bachmann slept on it and prayed on it before coming to her decision her early this morning.

“Thinking about it and praying about it, moving forward, she just felt this was the right thing to do,” Stewart said.

But it was not a decision that came easily.

“This was a lot. It’s an emotional decision to enter the race,” Stewart said. “And it’s certainly one to exit.”

She added, “This was tough.”

At her post-caucus celebration late Tuesday, the candidate had described continuing her campaign through “many more chapters” of the GOP nomination race and talked of challenging incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama in the general election.

Following her remarks, national campaign manager Keith Nahigian pushed back against an Associated Press article published late in the evening suggesting the campaign was weighing an exit, telling the Register the campaign was “full steam ahead.”

When asked about plans to travel to South Carolina in the morning, Nahigian said shortly before 11 p.m., “That’s where we’re going. That’s where we’re going.”

But Bachmann appeared Wednesday morning far more reflective, speaking of her campaign in the past tense almost from the beginning of her 10-minute remarks.

She described entering the presidential race out of her concern for the federal health care law passed in 2010 which she refers to as “Obamacare.”

That law and other policies enacted by Obama represent deliberate moves toward socialism, Bachmann said, moves she felt compelled to resist.

It was a love of country, a devotion to God and a certainty the two were inextricably linked that have propelled her forward in political life, she said.

“And while a congresswoman by title, a politician I never have been nor will I ever hope to be,” Bachmann said “I am not motivated in this quest by vainglory or the promise of political power.”

Stewart, the campaign spokeswoman, said Bachmann contacted each of the other five Republicans who ran in Iowa, but has made no decisions regarding an endorsement.

Bachmann will take time to “decompress” before considering her next steps in influencing the presidential race. Also uncertain at this point: whether she will run again for her congressional seat in Minnesota.

Her decision to drop out was not driven by financial concerns, Stewart said. The campaign was fully prepared to continue on in South Carolina, and only pulled the plug when it became clear that voters had coalesced around other candidates.

“She didn’t have it in her heart to continue given the way the people spoke last night,” Stewart said.

Bachmann stepped onto the Iowa presidential scene in June from her childhood hometown of Waterloo, and rode a wave of support through the summer.

That wave crested at the Iowa Straw Poll, the party fundraiser in Ames that is seen as a test of organizational strength. Bachmann’s campaign poured money and effort into the event – against the advice of then-campaign manager Ed Rollins – and came away with a 152-vote victory.

But then the wave broke, and broke hard.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the presidential fray a day after the straw poll, big-footing Bachmann’s momentum and immediately vaulting him to the top of the polls. Several other candidates surged in the months that followed, while Bachmann’s polling declined and became lodged in the single digits.

She sought to rekindle her support with a barnstorming, 99-county bus tour in the race’s final two weeks, and projected sunny confidence all along the way, but failed to create a spark. The tour hit all the counties, but at times drew tepid crowds.

The campaign was rocked late by the defection of Iowa campaign chairman Kent Sorenson, an unexpected development that led to days of disorganized campaigning and a clear perception that Bachmann’s candidacy was fatally weak.

Her 6,073 votes out of more than 122,000 cast on caucus night weren’t that far off from the 4,823 she garnered in winning the Iowa Straw Poll in August, despite coming from an electorate seven times larger.

Though the fight was clearly lost on Wednesday morning, Bachmann pledged to persevere, if perhaps in a different way.

“I’ll fight for this country, and for the American people every day in the way that God allows me to,” she said.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., joined by husband Marcus, left, family and friends, announces that she will end her campaign for president Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)